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ursaborealis.bsky.social
Ursa Borealis
@ursaborealis.bsky.social
240 followers 290 following 220 posts
Alaska-dweller with a grá for West Kerry. Scribbler, yearner, aspiring Banshee. Ag foghlaim Gaeilge.
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ursaborealis.bsky.social
Feeling good about Actually Writing in my cozy cabin as this snowstorm blows in, rather than spending the day dissociating and thinking I’m writing….

Also feeling good about achieving coziness in my cabin despite the very cold weather of the last few days!
#AmWriting
The view out my front window to a snowstorm beginning to set in on a Sitka spruce-hemlock forest in northern Southeast Alaska.
December 1, 2024 at 8:53 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Missing my boyfriend Bobby the sheepdog something fierce.
A wonderful old English sheepdog mix named Bobby posing for the camera in a little glass teahouse. Smerwick Harbor and the Three Sisters, county Kerry in the background.
November 28, 2024 at 3:33 AM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Gorgeous day to be flying home up Lynn Canal.
A braided river mouth emptying out from the snow capped Chilkat mountains into Lynn canal, taken from the window of a small plane
November 22, 2024 at 8:13 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Immediate ripple effect
Anchorage daily news headlines: Ranked choice voting and open primaries retained in Alaska after final ballot count. Followed by: bipartisan coalition on track for slim margin in Alaska house after ranked choice tabulations.
November 21, 2024 at 3:58 AM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
No idea what’s bending the light to create this northern light rainbow on my hotel room wall, but I’ll take any and all miracles on offer!
A three paned refraction of light that looks like the northern lights in a rainbow pattern on my hotel room wall
November 20, 2024 at 10:16 AM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
I actually have Oein's bobblehead from the Dingle Bookshop window display! #CorcaDhuibhne #DingleLit #SpeirGorm @blindboyboatclub.bsky.social
The book, "Twiggy Woman: ghostly folktales by Oein DeBhairduin" with a picture of Oein's face suspended by wire from the book to create a bobblehead effect. Thanks to the creativity and generosity of Nuala at Dingle Bookshop.
November 19, 2024 at 4:41 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Absolutely incredible conversation between @sineadgleeson.bsky.social and @aoifeg.bsky.social tonight at #DingleLit on Sinéad's novel, Hagstone. Surrounded by Harry Clarke's stained glass windows in the An Díseart chapel. I was grinning the entire time. #FéileLitearthaChorcaDhuibhne #speirgorm
Two copies of the novel, Hagstone, by Sinéad Gleeson. Cover is a black and white photo of a rocky island seashore with a yellow silhouette of a woman, hot pink sky, and the book's title printed vertically in bright yellow.
November 16, 2024 at 6:54 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
I came away from the night with a signed record!! And it came with a Christy Moore tote bag!! I'm such a sucker for a tote bag.

Did I mention that I had a front row seat?
Signed Christy Moore album, A Terrible Beauty, with a black Christy Moore tote bag.
November 14, 2024 at 1:01 AM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Behold, the Paps of Anu. My great-great grandparents lived in their underboob.
A pair of beautiful breast-shaped mountains with light mist. Brilliant green grass and trees in the foreground, blue sky with whispy white clouds above. Zooming in will reveal nipples at the mountain tops—these are rock cairn passage tombs.
November 13, 2024 at 1:19 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Farranfore, the Hub of the Universe.
Train platform with covered bench in Farranfore, County Kerry. Farranfore is remarkable in that it has both a train station and and airport. It also has a beautiful train station with toilets and dry space to shelter, but people are not allowed in it. Currently, work is being done on the exterior stonework. One wonders whether the train station might one day re-open, or whether the work is being done purely to spite the train-riding public.
November 13, 2024 at 1:11 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Does anyone else see the Virgen de Guadalupe in this sea potato?
A cream-colored sea urchin (or sea potato!) shell with no spines on a beach. There may or may not be an image of the Virgen de Guadalupe in its patterns.
November 12, 2024 at 7:19 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Does anyone know what this is? Small dolphin or porpoise vertebra? Found in West Kerry, Ireland. #MarineBio #MarineBiology
A hand holding a vertebra that may be from a marine mammal, with beach in the background.
November 12, 2024 at 12:09 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Look at this amazing hagstone I found on Muiríoch Beach in West Kerry this morning (peering through it at one of the Three Sisters—I think that one is Binn Diarmada but not sure?). And only days before I hear @sineadgleeson.bsky.social speak about her book, Hagstone, at Dingle Lit! #SpeirGorm
A left hand holding a rhombus-shaped hagstone made of quartz above the beach with gentle lapping waves in the background. A sharktooth-shaped peak, one of the Three Sisters, is seen through the hole in the hagstone. A blue-and-partially cloudy sky above the horizon. There are little quartz crystals within the hole, and the stone is adorned with nice accents of green algae. A hagstone is a rock with a hole in it, significant in the folklore of many cultures. One belief is that looking through it allows the viewer to see the Other World that may not be visible in most circumstances.
November 12, 2024 at 11:15 AM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
More Cork City highlights. (2/2) @thebuttermuseum.bsky.social #Im
It wouldn't be an Irish cultural site without a Séamus Heaney poem. The poem "Churning Day" printed on a wall behind a butter churn. Framed poster featuring a drawing of an Irish wolfhound above the slogan, "Buy Irish Free State Butter". Vintage Kerrygold butter wrapper Another stack of butter wrappers, including one from the woefully under-represented Town of Monaghan.
November 11, 2024 at 10:46 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Some highlights from my weekend in Cork City. (1/2) #Im @thebuttermuseum.bsky.social
Exterior shot of The Butter Museum. It has remarkable bright orange doors and a beautiful symmetry that could feature in a Coen Brothers Film A butter commode!!! Wooden Swedish-made butter box originally used to transport butter, and later fitted with a porcelain pot so it could be used as a commode. Bog butter!!! A small wooden cask filled with butter that was stored in a bog for a thousand years!!! A stack of vintage butter wrappers wrapped around blocks and displayed atop a tall yellow stand that resembles a stick of Irish grass-fed butter (as evidenced by its rich yellow color that comes from the high level of beta-kerotene found in Irish butter due to their diet of rich Irish grass).
November 11, 2024 at 10:46 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Meanwhile, my good friend Bobby here is very happy to receive alllllll the attention.
A very shaggy and adorable white and grey old english sheep dog/shihtzu mix seeking love and attention. He has a particularly cute black nose poking out from all the shag.
November 4, 2024 at 1:52 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
I'm minding this amazing little ancient wizard of a chihuahua who is so happy to snuggle up in my lap, but if I try to pet him, he will absolutely try to bite me. I love him so much.
An ancient black and white long-haired chihauhau named Wally with amazing long black tufts hanging from his ears, giving a bugged out side-eye Wally from behind, snuggled up in my lap, again with the amazing long dangling ear tufts
November 4, 2024 at 11:18 AM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
This butter was also very good, from Co. Limerick.
Glenstal Irish Butter roll in its paper packaging. The label has two buttermakers, one with an old fashioned churn and the other with a wheel of butter. The label proclaims tht the butter is made with summer milk. The other side of the label, explaining that summer milk makes for naturally softer butter, and that the combination of fresh Atlantic air, rich fertile soil, and plenty of rain produces lush grass for cows to graze on. It goes on to say that the summer milk is superbly rich and creamy and makes for lovely yellow butter that is naturally softer and full of flavour, a celebration of the taste of home! There is also a seal from Blas na hÉireann, the Irish Food Awards, proclaiming this butter the Supreme Champion of 2017.
November 3, 2024 at 10:01 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
In the meantime, here are some photos of the best butter I have had recently, from Glenilen Farm in Drimoleague, Co. Cork.
A roll of very yellow butter, with furrows across it the long way, unrolled from its white paper wrapper. It is a very rich, buttery butter. The same butter still rolled up in its wrapper, from Glenilen Farm in Drimoleague, Co. Cork, with hand for scale.
November 3, 2024 at 9:51 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
I'm happy to report that Gobnait's Well in Dún Chaoin is flowing again, after running dry for the last few months.
A square stone trough divided into two halves with water flowing into it from underground. Up the hill is a stone structure commemorating St. Gobnait The upper part of Gobnait's Well, featuring a stone or cement sculpture of her face set into a stone structure above the well in the side of a hill.
November 2, 2024 at 7:39 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
Last week, I saw a barn owl in flight in the westest of West Kerry. It felt like a remarkable privilege even before I learned that they are endangered in Ireland. This week I visited a raptor centre where this barn owl landed on my gloved hand! The patterns on its feathers dazzled me.
A barn owl perched on a metal railing at the Aillwee Birds of Prey Centre in County Clare, Ireland
October 19, 2024 at 9:42 PM
ursaborealis.bsky.social
About to start my #NextIrishRead, Why the Moon Travels by Oein DeBhairduin. Excited to hear Oein share his stories at #DingleLit next month! #IrishBookWeek #SeachtainNaLeabhair #IrishBookADay
Book: Why the Moon Travels by Oein De Bhairduin, illustrated by Leanne McDonagh. White cover with black, white and grey illustration of a bird that I think is a crow, but I'll probably find out for sure when I read the book. Irish Book Week/Seachtain na Leabhar Éireeannach poster, with the Irish Book a Day Schedule. Today, Saturday 19 October, is next Irish read. Tomorrow is last Irish book you read.
October 19, 2024 at 6:48 PM